Lu Feng briefly inquired about the situation on site to ensure everything was in order before allowing the host to officially take the stage. In his fifty years of life experience, Thompala had never experienced anything like this before, and he was already quite nervous standing there.
"Don't be nervous. In a moment, put the walkie-talkie behind your back and put on the headset. I'll show you how to speak." Lu Feng stared at him and said, "Understand?"
“I know!” Tumpara took a deep breath and stood at the waiting area on the stage.
The host introduced the company and Thompala on stage with great emotion, especially emphasizing the cost price of foreign-made products.
Things that cost a few dozen yuan are sold to you for hundreds or thousands of yuan, and you have to queue up to buy them. They don't even treat you like a human being. What an humiliation!
The atmosphere in the audience was stirred, and the host said with deep emotion, "Now, let's welcome Thompala to the stage with a warm round of applause."
The audience erupted in applause and screams, and some girls were even in tears.
“Go up!” Lu Feng said to him.
Thompala took a deep breath, stepped onto the stage, and stood there, looking at the huge crowd in front of him. He was nervous and didn't say a word for more than thirty seconds.
"Speak up, let him greet the audience and introduce himself," Lu Feng instructed.
Thompala felt his legs trembling. He had prepared countless speeches in his mind, but at this moment he couldn't open his mouth.
"You damn bastard!" Lu Feng had already sensed his condition and said to the translator, "Hello everyone, my name is Thumpala."
After the translator finished speaking into the walkie-talkie, Tumpara finally spoke.
"I'm very excited. I'm an introverted person, and I've spent my whole life working on research and development. This is the first time I've stood on such a big stage. Please forgive me for not saying anything well, as I'm an honest person," Lu Feng continued.
What appeared before the audience was a simply dressed, honest-looking old man stammering as he spoke, unlike those glib-tongued businessmen. This kind of person is the most honest and least likely to lie.
“When I was in my twenties, I witnessed the scarcity of resources in China. My family was extremely poor at that time. I didn’t eat rice until I was fourteen or fifteen. I went to the United States to study and saw bread for the first time. A piece of bread the size of my palm cost one dollar abroad, but the price of bread in China was several times higher,” Lu Feng said, standing at the entrance to the stage.
On the stage, Thompala stood there like a wooden figure, repeating what he had just said.
"This is made locally. If it were an imported product, it would be even more expensive. In the late 1970s, I had completed my studies and was exposed to a lot of modern technology, such as telephones, radio technology, and semiconductors. However, China was still a barren land in these fields."
"Do you know what a mobile phone costs in the US and Japan? A Motorola phone costs $300 in their country, which is equivalent to 100,000 Thai baht. But which of their products sells for 100,000 Thai baht in our country? The cheapest one costs 150,000 Thai baht, and the high-end ones are almost 200,000."
"And what I want to tell you today is that the landline phones, mobile phones, pagers, and televisions sold in China are all based on technologies that are about to be phased out. In the international community, markets like ours are considered secondary markets."
"They list products with different technical standards based on each country's regulations. What is this? This is technological discrimination!!"
“When I was doing research and development abroad, whenever I saw things like this, I always felt a surge of anger. Why should people from my country have to spend the most money to buy the lowest-tech products and have to be subservient to others? If they make a small concession, people will cheer and say how conscientious they are!”
"This shouldn't be the case. This world shouldn't be like this, my friends. As a Thai person, I can't stand by and watch. I have the ability to come back and give back to everyone. Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep soundly abroad!"
“Really, let me tell you this: I’m living a great life abroad. As a top global researcher, I have a villa, luxury cars, and a high-society lifestyle and circle. I told my boss that I wanted to come back and fill this void. Guess what he said?”
"He said we Thais are no good, that we should be like countless Pattayas for them to enjoy themselves. I got furious and threw a cup of coffee in his face. I yelled at him, 'Thais! Are! Good!!!'"
Some people at the scene stood up excitedly and shouted "Thai people, please!"
Seeing the constant shouts from the crowd, Tumpara relaxed considerably. He took two steps forward and said, "At that time, I secretly vowed to establish an electronics company of our own, with all the technology being our own."
"To be honest, it's very difficult. I have a lot of technical skills, but all the supporting components are still from abroad. After so much effort, I have finally made a breakthrough."
Lu Feng saw that he was starting to have his own thoughts and was standing there no longer speaking. Once the emotions were stirred up, everything else would be much easier to do.
Thompala talked for a long time on stage about the suppression he faced from foreign investors, how they pressured him at every stage, and how he even faced life-threatening situations.
“Even with all the difficulties, am I afraid? I’m not afraid! As long as you still support me, I’m not afraid!” Tumpala said excitedly.
Lu Feng glanced at the time; it was already 11:30 a.m., almost lunchtime. He said to the translator, "Tell him that the goods can be taken out now. From now on, whatever I say, he says."
"In my eyes, you are my family. No matter how much hardship I endure or how many grievances I suffer when facing foreign capital, as long as I can get the support of my family, I don't care. After my team and I worked day and night, we finally developed a new product that breaks the monopoly of foreign capital. Today it will meet everyone."
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